


Golden Coin Cookies

by mpmottley



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2013-12-08
Packaged: 2018-01-03 23:46:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1074469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mpmottley/pseuds/mpmottley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Effie and Haymitch the night before the Quarter Quell Reaping</p>
            </blockquote>





	Golden Coin Cookies

He was happy. Or he was getting there. At least, he thought so. He had started to regain that feeling that maybe this world they were stuck in could be some kind of tolerable. He wasn't alone anymore. For all intents and purposes, the Katniss and her family were her friends, Gale and Peeta too, and he had Effie, of course. Effie, who had once rubbed him the way of pavement on soft skin, had become something so stable he couldn't help but attach himself to her like an anchor to the realm of the living. 

The bottle that he threw remained shattered on the floor at the base of the wall, the alcohol long since dried. He refused to clean it up. To clean it up would mean that he accepted what the capitol was putting them all through. Effie had asked him to clean it up, and his refusal was so vehement that he had to apologize to her afterward. She had it hard enough, if her subdued demeanor was anything to go by. She was quiet, and seemed to have to force her usual desire for perfection. She arrived at his door in the afternoon the day before the reaping, as she had for the past few years. As a citizen of the capitol she couldn't very well explain living in district 12 with him, so he had to settle for seeing her for a few weeks a year. That did him just fine, he wasn't greedy; he was accustomed to not having. Living in Victors Village was fine and dandy, but it was still 12 and not having was part of the culture.

The night before the reaping he spreads a blanket on the living room floor in front of the fireplace and drags the pillows off his bed and the couch. He lights a fire and gets out the gold coin cookies he'd asked Peeta to make since she love them so. (Peeta had looked at him funny for a moment, and then laughed "They're almond cookies! The raw sugar on he outside makes them look like gold.") He even had Prim share some milk from her goat to go with the cookies.

When Effie saw his efforts she smiled in a way that looked like it could have been genuine if not for the circumstances. They sat by the fire facing each other as he taught her a game that children played in 12 where they tried to hold down the other's thumb with their own. She laughed, her competitiveness creeping out, and he let her win, enjoying her immodest triumph. They sat in quiet for a long time after that, lost in the fears that tomorrow would present with the sunrise. He traced invisible lines on her hand held between his own as she watched the embers beneath the flames glow.

"Haymitch, I don't want to lose you." She confessed quietly. In a bout of silence where he didn't answer, she looked at him. He met her eyes,

"I wish I could tell you that you won't have to, but I can't." He shook his head, and never before had he ever felt this close to crying, at least not since he can remember. Her comment was breaking his heart, and he very well could break hers at the reaping tomorrow.

"Fifty percent." she nodded. He nodded too. She didn't know about the promise he'd made Katniss. He wouldn't give her the knowledge that he would volunteer, especially not after her confession. 

He kissed her hand in what he hoped would be a reassuring way and forced a smile. "Whatever happens, you will be okay." He promised, even though it was not a promise he could fulfill; she would have to do it herself.

She nodded, though crying "I'll try. If you're not here, Peeta will be." she confirmed. She wiped the tears away, smearing her makeup and tried to compose herself with a deep breath. Instead, she drew in her breath and released a sob. "I-if you're not here, I--" She was becoming incoherent and he moved closer to her.

"If I'm not here, you are going to put on a brave face and move on." He snapped, shaking her shoulders slightly, "You can't let them know you sympathize, Effie. You know what they do." She nodded, still trying to calm down. He pulled her against him tightly, hating this world more than ever. He didn't know what to say to her anymore. She curled against his chest, and he could feel her tears through his shirt. The fire was dying. 

"This isn't right. How could they do this?"

"It's not, but they do what they want." He said quietly.

They fell asleep in the dimming light of the fire.


End file.
